Importing bookmarks into another computer, but not overwriting the bookmarks folder that is receiving the transferred bookmarks.
I hope this is clear enough to describe what I'm trying to do.
1. I back up bookmarks in the Desktop.
2. I import bookmarks from the Dell Laptop. This overwrites all the bookmarks in the Desktop, but I have a backup.
3. I create a folder called Dell Laptop.
4. I move all the bookmarks that have just been imported from the Laptop to a folder called Dell Laptop.
5. Now if I try to restore the backup of the Desktop back into the Bookmark Library a notification comes up that it will overwrite all of what currently exists as bookmarks.
The bottom line here is that I can’t find a way to segregate the Desktop bookmarks from the Laptop bookmarks because there doesn’t seem to be any way to prevent what is being restored from completely overwriting what is already there.
I use Outlook, for example. If I copy a set of contacts into Outlook it will give me an option of overwriting, or not (by creating duplicates), what is there with new contacts. That is what I’m trying to achieve with Firefox bookmarks. Is there a way?
All Replies (5)
You can do this by exporting the bookmarks to an HTML file and importing that file. When importing bookmarks from an HTML file, it will add the bookmarks to those that already exist.
For details see exporting bookmarks to an HTML file and importing Bookmarks from an HTML File.
I can't be the only one having this issue. This is a very common task. What's the resolution?
See my first reply.
But I don't want to mix them together. Since I've created a folder called "Dell Laptop" which currently contains all the Laptop's bookmarks, will importing an JSON file (backup) leave the folder called "Dell Laptop" in its original state without placing the contents of the JSON file within it? The problem is that I used the Backup rather than exporting an HTML file. I guess that means I would have to import the JSON backup, which would overwrite the bookmarks imported from the Laptop. Then I would have to again Export from the Laptop to an HTML file. Before exporting all the bookmarks would first have to be placed in a folder called Dell Laptoop so they would come into the desktop in that folder. Would that work?
The point of this is to eventually only add recently created content from the Dell Laptop file to the imported HTML file.
This process, if it works, should be made much easier. This is far too difficult and most would not consider doing it, despite the obvious wish to import from another computer.
Hi TonyE,
Thanks. I needed some reassurance before I went ahead and tried something whose outcome was uncertain.
1. I imported the Desktop backup, which replaced all the bookmarks in the Desktop from the recent backup.
2. I renamed the folder where all the Desktop bookmarks resided to Desktop
3. I placed all the bookmarks in the Laptop to a folder called Laptop
4. I exported all the bookmarks in the Laptop to an HTML file
5. I imported the Laptop bookmarks to the Desktop bookmarks
Now I have 2 folders; one is called Laptop and the other Desktop, each having the bookmarks that were contained in those PCs. This is the result I wanted. Thanks again.
Modified by MozillaFirefoxNewbie